biography
pronunciation:
[svayreer seegoord
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (c.1150–1202)
|
| biography:
| King of Norway from 1184, born in the Faeroe Is. He claimed to be the illegitimate son of a king of Norway (Sigurd Haraldsson, d.1155). He emerged from obscurity in 1179 to lay claim to the throne from Magnus V Erlingssonz (reigned 1162–84), whom he finally defeated and killed in 1184. One of Norway's greatest kings, he strengthened the crown against both Church and nobles with the support of the freeholding farmers. He commissioned one of the first Icelandic Sagas, a biography of himself, Sverris saga by Karl Jónsson. |
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